1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of medical devices, and more particularly, to a device which can restrain the movements of a patient's limb with a minimum risk of impairing the circulation in the limb, and with the capability of being quickly removed and easily adjusted if necessary.
2. Prior Art
It is often necessary to restrain a patient's arm or leg from moving so that intravenous medication may be administered to the patient or other medical procedures performed. Typically, ropes, canvas or leather straps and buckles or other means have been used to restrain limbs from movement. It has been found that these typically used devices are not easily removable in the case of an emergency or in the event that the patient finds it necessary to be moved from the bed. In addition, many of these devices are not continuously or easily adjustable, both with regard to the tightness of the restraint about the patient's limb and with regard to the position of the restrained limb.
Under some circumstances it has been found that circulation may be impaired by devices which are either not continuously adjustable or which tighten about the patient's limb when a pulling force is exerted. Some prior art devices, however, such as the device disclosed in the Stubbs patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,536,068, have been purposely designed to substantially tighten over a patient's limb when the patient attempts to move the limb. Such a feature, while tending to impair circulation, is intended to discourage the patient from moving and might be appropriately used for hysteria victims. However, such punitive techniques would certainly not be appropriate in all medical procedures involving rational patients and indeed could be dangerous because of the impairment of circulation which may result. In particular, an inadvertent, uncontrollable movement or shifting of position by the patient, for which no punitive measure is warranted or desirable, could still result in an undesired tightening of the restraint about the person's limb if a device such as that described by the Stubbs patent is used.
In the present device, on the other hand, there is no substantial tightening of the restraint about the patient's limb and no consequent impairment of circulation should the patient either inadvertently or purposefully move the limb. The present invention provides this feature while also providing a means for continuously adjusting both the degree of tightness of the restraint about the person's limb when it is installed and for continuously adjusting the position of the patient's limb relative to the support structure to which the restraint is attached.
In addition, the present invention provides a restraint which can be quickly released from the support structure to which it is attached in order to facilitate the handling of an emergency situation, such as where the patient must be turned to enable vomiting and to prevent aspiration.
The ability to quickly release the restraint of the present invention from the support structure to which it is attached is of great importance. Previously, restraints have been 25 tied to a support structure. With such restraints, pulling and tugging by the patient on the restraint has, at times, so tightened the restraint to the support structure that nursing personnel have been forced to cut the restraint in order to release it. Valuable time may be lost in a futile effort to untie the restraint or in obtaining a knife or scissors with which to cut the restraint off from the support structure. This problem is completely eliminated by the quick-release feature of the present invention.